Montana Receives Award For ‘REAL ID’ Website

The Coalition for a Secure Driver’s License presented Montana with an award for being the first state to create a REAL ID standalone website. Brian Zimmer is the president of this organization and he is the one who recognized Montana for this award. Motor Vehicle Division Public Information Officer Levi Worts explains.

“He has been instrumental in the actually writing of the REAL ID bill, among other things in Washington DC,” Worts said. “His organization recognizes whenever states take exemplary steps to protect identities or engage citizens in information, such as what we did.”

Their organization has awarded 14 awards in the last eight years and Montana is the fifth to receive a Public Engagement Award. Worts says they wanted to create an engaging and informative digital space that Montanans can interact with.

“We are trying to bridge this gap between government and citizen interaction,” Worts said. “That really has existed for too long. With the rise of technology like automated chat systems or chat bots as they are often called, we can do this now and there is really no excuse why not. When we were presented with this opportunity we said hey let’s give it our all and make sure that we properly inform the citizens and give them a great experience to work with.”

According to Worts, MSU Billings students played a significant role in creating the ad campaign for the site. You can visit the REAL ID site right here.